Thirty years ago, the BJP first included the promise of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in its election manifesto, giving it pride of place among its ideological troika — the other two being building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370, both of which have now been accomplished. This week, Union home minister Amit Shah’s declaration that UCC will be enacted in all NDA-ruled states marks the beginning of concerted nationwide efforts to push UCC towards
Thirty years ago, the BJP first included the promise of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in its election manifesto, giving it pride of place among its ideological troika — the other two being building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370, both of which have now been accomplished. This week, Union home minister Amit Shah’s declaration that UCC will be enacted in all NDA-ruled states marks the beginning of concerted nationwide efforts to push UCC towards fruition. Clearly, the BJP believes it has found a workable model for customary laws that goes state-by-state instead of a blanket national rule and keeps tribespeople out of its ambit. That Shah has set 2029 as the deadline for the UCC indicates that the BJP is considering making the law an election plank and showcase the fulfilment of its ideological mission before the Lok Sabha polls.
Long considered a third rail in Indian politics, UCC has been enacted in Uttarakhand — and bills passed by the assemblies of Gujarat, Assam and Madhya Pradesh await presidential assent — in addition to Goa where a historical Portuguese Civil Code mandates uniform family laws. But the real test of UCC will come in large, heterogenous provinces such as West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra or Bihar that have multiple intersecting customary laws, complex historical religious lineages, and large minority populations. In such cases, the government should eschew a one-size-fits-all approach in favour of more consultations and bring a broad swathe of legal experts and communities on board before implementing such laws. Similarly, provisions such as mandating the registration of live-in relationships — enforced in some states — should be reconsidered because they foster vigilantism against a backdrop where transgressive relationships already battle social censure and violence.
Since animated debates in the Constituent Assembly, UCC has always invoked strong passions and sharply divergent opinions between one school that worries about safeguarding minority cultures and another that seeks to eradicate avoidable bias, such as gender discrimination, in personal laws. As a result, the Constituent Assembly made UCC a non-justiciable right, placing it among the directive principles of state policy and recognising that national, religious, and legal diversity couldn’t always be compatible with electoral politics. UCC must establish a baseline of fundamental rights for all citizens that no personal law can transgress, without subsuming one religious practice into another or establishing one rigid template. This will require caution, deliberation and foresight.
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